Charles Kenneth Giddens, a resident of Huntsville, AL for 41 years passed away on Sunday, December 10th, 2023. He was born in Birmingham, AL on December 29th, 1938, and was a 1958 graduate of Phillips High School in Birmingham. He attended North Alabama State College in Rainsville. He spent eight years in the U.S. Air Force and retired from the Alabama Air Guard as a master sergeant with 26 years total military service. Upon discharge from the Air Force, the family moved to Huntsville, working for Boeing.
He worked in Smyrna, TN at Nissan North America for 20 years, retiring in 1998 as a maintenance tech. While in Smyrna he was a mission pilot and squadron commander with the Civil Air Patrol with the rank of Lt. Col. He was also a member of the American Legion, coached softball, and was a member of Al Menah Shrine. He served ten years in the Tennessee Defense Force attaining the rank of Lt. Col.
As his daughters were growing up in Huntsville, he coached girls’ softball and basketball and was on the Board of Directors of the Lakewood Recreation Association, the Northwest YMCA, and the Huntsville Quarter Midget Association.
He was a past member of Cahaba Shrine and a 32nd degree Mason. His retirement years were spent volunteering at the North Alabama Railroad Museum where he was the vice president and on the Board of Directors. He was a member of Hazel Green United Methodist Church and was active with the Joy Travelers group.
He is proceeded in death by his parents, Kenneth and Gertrude Giddens of Birmingham and his wife of 37 years Sue, who passed away in 1999.
He is survived by his daughters, Cheryl Solway of New Market, AL and Sandy Robinson of Jasper, TN; and his grandchildren, Jennifer Thomas, Robert Thomas, and Carl Thomas of Signal Mountain, TN who were the apples of his eye.
A graveside service will be held for Charles at Valhalla Memory Gardens on Thursday, December 14th, 2023, at 1:00pm.
